CLEVELAND (WJW) – The Salvation Army in Greater Cleveland is short on toys for kids this Christmas and desperately seeking donations amid a staggering increase in requests for assistance.
“Here in the toy warehouse, we are surrounded by somewhere north of 12,000 toys and the problem is we need a whole lot more,” said Captain Joel Ashcraft, divisional secretary of the Salvation Army in Greater Cleveland.
The need this year is greater than ever before and a significant increase from what organizers initially forecast. The Salvation Army location in Miles Park reported a 115% increase in sign-ups for assistance.
Last year, Ashcraft said nearly 4,000 children were served across the area. This year, nearly 2,000 additional families requested help.
“The way wages have remained stagnant across this area, we found there was an even greater increase,” said Ashcraft. “We’re serving nearly 6,000 children, that’s nearly a 50% increase from where we were last year.”
The most critical toy donations …